AUTOMATIC ATTITUDE ACTIVATION: STUDIES ON PROCESSING AND EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ADVERTISEMENTS AND PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Catherine E. Goodall, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2009 Dissertation Committee: Michael D. Slater, Ph.D., Adviser Approved by Osei Appiah, Ph.D. David Ewoldsen, Ph.D. _______________________________ Adviser Graduate Program in Communication i ABSTRACT A two part investigation was conducted looking at how individuals process alcohol advertising and public service messages in automatic, pre-concious ways. In study 1, participants were exposed to either (a) alcohol product advertisements, (b) alcohol PSAs featuring visual reference to alcohol use and positive affective appeals, (c) alcohol PSAs with no visual reference to alcohol use and negative affective appeals, or (d) non-alcohol product advertisements (control condition). Results suggest that the positively-valenced alcohol PSAs that show alcohol being consumed in the messages resulted in more positive automatically-activated evaluations of alcohol than exposure to the negatively-valenced PSAs with no visual reference to alcohol consumption, or the control advertisements. Thus, such messages may inadvertently automatically-activate positive evaluations of alcohol from memory. These effects increased the more individuals enjoyed the messages. These findings are concerning because once activated, these implicit evaluations were shown to predict increased willingness to participate in drinking games until the point of intoxication. Thus, study 1 suggests that developers of alcohol PSAs should be careful not to include cues that may automatically-activate positive evaluations of alcohol from memory. Study 2 used the same design as study 1, but used an alcohol memory association measure rather than an implicit attitude measure to address concerns about using existing implicit measures to assess priming effects of mediated messages. Results were mostly consistent with study 1 and suggest that existing ii implicit measures can be appropriately used to assess priming effects of messages. iii Dedicated to: Mom, Dad, and Steve for providing support, encouragement, and understanding. My COMM cohort and classmates for providing laughs, friendship, and great memories as we went through this process together. My advisors for challenging me and providing guidance over the years. My friends outside of academia for always being there when I needed to relax and take a break. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without the support, encouragement and guidance I received from family, friends, and colleagues throughout my graduate studies. I wish to thank my family for providing encouragement and strength throughout the years. I also wish to thank my friends and cohort members who have gone through the candidacy exam and dissertation process with me. It has been a pleasure to share this experience with you. I also thank those friends outside of the program who have been supportive, encouraging, and understanding. You have helped me keep a healthy balance during this time. I owe many thanks to the faculty who have advised me over the years. Dave, thank you for coming on board this dissertation and providing your expertise. I wish I had been able to start working with you earlier in my graduate studies. Osei, thank you for helping me initiate my career as a scholar. You introduced me to communication research and strongly influenced by decision to pursue doctoral studies. I have greatly enjoyed working on various projects with you. Tony, thank you for helping me get a running start into graduate school. You have taught me so much about research methods and experimental designs. You have also taught me the importance of conducting research with a strong applied emphasis. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and understanding over the years. You have helped me get through very stressful times. My first three years of graduate school would not have been the same without you. Mike, v thank you for advising me throughout my graduate studies. You have challenged me to become a better scholar and have helped me reach goals I did not originally think were possible. Thank you for all the time you invested in me to help me get to this stage. vi VITA September 26, 1984 . Born. Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2005 . B.A. Communication, The Ohio State University 2008 . M.A. Communication, The Ohio State University 2005-2009 . Graduate Associate, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Roberto, A.J., & Goodall, C.E. (in press). Using the extended parallel process model to explain physicians’ decisions to test their patients for kidney disease. Journal of Health Communication, 14. Roberto, A. J., Goodall, C. E, West, P., & Mahan, J. D. (in press). Persuading physicians to test their patients’ level of kidney functioning: The effects of framing and point of view. Health Communication. Roberto, A. J., Carlyle, K. E., Goodall, C. E., & Castle, J. D. (in press). The relationship between parents’ verbal aggressiveness and responsiveness and children’s relational satisfaction with parent and attachment style. Journal of Family Communication. Slater, M.D., Goodall, C.E., & Hayes, A.F. (in press). Self-reported news attention does assess differential processing of media content: An experiment on risk perceptions utilizing a random sample of U.S. local crime and accident news. Journal of Communication, 59. Goodall, C.E., & Roberto, A.J. (2008). An Inconvenient Truth: An application of the extended parallel process model. Communication Teacher, 22, 93-96. Goodall, C. E., & Appiah, O. (2008). Adolescents’ perceptions of Canadian cigarette package warning labels: Investigating the effects of message framing. Health Communication, 23, 117-127. vii Roberto, A. J., Goodall, C. E., & Witte, K. (2008). Raising the alarm and calming fears: Perceived threat and efficacy during risk and crisis. In R. Heath & D. O'Hair (Eds.), Handbook of risk and crisis communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Roberto, A. J., Carlyle, K. E., & Goodall, C. E. (2007). Communication and corporal punishment: The relationship between self-report parent verbal and physical aggression. Communication Research Reports, 24, 103-111. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communication. Minor Field: Social Psychology. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..v Vita……………………………………………………………………………………....vii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………xii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………....xiii Chapters: 1. General Literature Review………………………………………………………...1 Introduction………………………………………………………………..1 Automatic Attitude Activation: Definitions and Implications…………….5 Attitude Accessibility……………………………………………...5 The Influence of Automatic Attitude Activation on Behavior……7 The Emergence of “Implicit” Attitudes………………………….10 Automatic Attitudes: Message Processing and Effects……….…………14 Transactive Model of Attitude Accessibility…………………….15 Media Priming……………………………………………...……16 The Proposed Model……………………………………………………..18 2. Study 1: Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses……………………………….19 Overview…………………………………………………………………19 Effect of Condition on Automatically-Activated Attitudes……………...20 Moderators……………………………………………………….24 Alcohol Use……………...………………………………24 Message Evaluation……………………………………...25 Automatically-Activated Attitudes as a Predictor of Behavioral Willingness………………………………………………………………27 3. Study 1: Method…………………………………………………………………30 ix Design and Stimuli……………………………………………………….30 Procedure………………………………………………………………...32 Measures: Pre-Exposure…………………………………………………32 Demographics……………………………………………………32 Alcohol Use……………………………………………………...33 Social and Recreational Habits…………………………………..33 Measures: Post Message Exposure………………………………………34 Overview of Implicit Measures………………………………….35 Implicit vs. Explicit Attitude Measures………………….35 Evaluative Priming Measures……………………………37 Implicit Association Test………………………………...41 Affect Misattribution Procedure…………………………51 Attitudes Toward the Advertisement…………………………….55 Behavioral Willingness…………………………………………..56 4. Study 1: Results………………………………………………………………….60 Effects of Condition on Automatically-Activated Evaluations of Alcohol…………………………………………………………………...60 Alcohol Use as a Moderator of Effects of Condition on Attitude Activation………………………………………………………………...64 Message Evaluation as a Moderator of Effects of Condition on Attitude Activation………………………………………………………………...65 Automatically-Activated Attitudes as Predictor of Behavioral Willingness……………………………………………………………….68 5. Study 1: Discussion………………………………………………………………..77 Interpretation of Findings………………………………………………..77 Conclusions…………………………………………………….………...84 6. Study 2…………………………………………………………………………...86 Study Overview………………………………………………………….86 Memory Associations……………………………………………………87 Hypotheses………………………………………………………………88 Method…………………………………………………………………..92 Design and Stimuli……………………………………………....92 Procedure………………………………………………………...93 Measures: Pre Message Exposure……………………………….94 Demographics……………………………………………94 Alcohol Use……………………………………………...94 Social and Recreational Habits…………………………..95 Measures: Post Message Exposure………………………………95 x Memory Associations…………………………………….95 Attitudes toward the Advertisement……………………..97 Behavioral Willingness…………………………………..98 Deliberative